ReMix:One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 1 - The Treasure Beneath the Waves "Among the Glaciers" 2:20

We begin the week & the month with more from Shonen ReMix Jump!, as DaMonz (Emery Monzerol) searches for the Grand Line with this reflective, emotive solo piano arrangement of One Piece: Unlimited Cruise 1:

"My process for making this ReMix was almost as far from being straightforward as it could have been. At first, I was shooting for an uptempo, ambitious, weird mixture of orchestral and chiptune. I struggled with it for quite some time, I was completely unable to achieve what I had in mind.

For some weird reason I kept prioritizing the piano over the other parts of my arrangement, so after a while I decided that I should commit to that instinct. I scrapped everything and started the arrangement over as a solo piano piece. Suddenly, everything made sense, and I was done in just a few short sittings. I hope people will enjoy the resulting short, humble little arrangement. :)"

I can very much relate to this indirect path; sometimes it means simply running out of time & not finishing any arrangement at all, but when things aren't clicking and you have TIME for a full reset & fresh approach, those can be some of the best ideas, liberating you from the confines of a prior vision & letting you keep just the best bits, for something new. Like I said, you need extra time to be able to regroup & start over like that, and it can be daunting/frustrating at first, but when it results in something you love (rather than just like, or are okay with), it's time well spent. This solemn, almost bittersweet classical solo piano piece strikes an interesting tone relative to the rest of the album, stopping amidst the higher-energy/synthetic action for some lovely, longing introspection. Album director WiFiSunset writes:

"A beautiful piano remix from DaMonz, to peacefully sail the North Blue with."

Indeed it is; relative to the artist's oeuvre, at least on OCR, this is pared-down, slower, and ultimately even minimalist, but Emery infuses the performance with a deliberate, delicate vibe, perfect for staring out windows & wondering about what might have been, etc. Not necessarily a "One Piece vibe" per se, but Emery's reinvented the source around a more melancholy, minor-key solo piano meditation, and it's executed brilliantly.